Obama Takes Shot at Gun Groups While Outlining New Firearms Laws He Supports: ‘Ginning Up Fear’

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(TheBlaze/AP) — Signaling an all-of-the-above approach to reducing gun violence, President Barack Obama said Monday that he is reviewing a range of proposals from Vice President Joe Biden, including executive actions that would bypass Congress, and will present his plan within days.

Obama said that stronger background checks, a meaningful ban on assault weapons and limits on high-capacity ammunition magazines are all ideas he thinks make sense. He said he’s not sure how many of those measures can pass Congress, but that he expects the legislative body to set aside politics and focus on what he considers to be common sense solutions.

Responding to a reporter who asked what action he is willing to take through executive order, the president declined to give specifics but said he was “confident that there are some steps that we can take that don’t require legislation.”

Here is video of the president’s explanation, where he said he will “go ahead an take” what executive action he can if he believes it will reduce gun violence:

Soon after, President Obama weighed in on the record gun sales in recent months:

“As far as people lining up and purchasing more guns, I think that we’ve seen for some time now that those who oppose any common sense gun control or gun safety measures have a pretty effective way of ginning up fear on the part of gun owners that somehow, the federal government’s about to take all your guns away. And, you know there’s probably an economic element to that, it obviously is good for business, but I think that those of us who look at this problem have repeatedly said that responsible gun owners, people who have a gun for protection, for hunting, for sportsmanship– they don’t have anything to worry about.

“The issue here is not whether or not we believe in the Second Amendment. The issue is are there some sensible steps we can take to make sure that somebody like the individual in Newtown can’t walk into a school and gun down a bunch of children in a shockingly rapid fashion…but part of the challenge that we confront is that even the slightest hint of some sensible, responsible legislation in this area fans this notion that somehow, ‘here it comes,’ and that everybody’s guns are going to be taken away. It’s unfortunate, but that’s the case.” [Emphasis added]

The president asked Joe Biden to lead a task force on ways to reduce violence after the December massacre in Newtown, Conn., that killed 27 people – mostly children.

Over the past month, Biden has met with members of Congress, Cabinet members and advocacy groups on both sides of the issue to gauge support for measures such as reinstating the expired assault weapons ban. The NRA, one of the pro-gun groups that met with Biden, has made clear it will vehemently oppose such a ban and other measures that restrict gun access.

Talking Points Memo has video of the president’s jab at those who oppose “common sense” gun control: